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DIESEL RELAUNCHES WOMEN’S LINE

by Maria Cristina Pavarini — May 18, 2011

Diesel has just presented its new women’s collection in their Milan showroom. Daniela Riccardi, who is Diesel CEO since about a year, (see our report), talked about the reasons for the relaunch of the line and further explained the concept: “According to market surveys, women buy 70% of fashion products worldwide,” explained Riccardi who has redefined the guidelines of the new women’s line together with owner and founder, Renzo Rosso. “In the past months, our collection was strong enough in terms of fashion content, though it didn’t offer enough products that could satisfy customers' requests.”

The new line – designed by Finnish designer Heikki Salonen, a former winner of the company’s ITS# annual young talent contest – is to address 25-35 year-old women. Riccardi: “They have to be brave, as according to the brand’s own DNA, sexy but not vulgar, playful, fresh and somehow irreverent.”

The collection will include a pre-collection with about 150 items delivered by November/December, and a main collection of 160 pieces with three delivery dates in January, February and mid-March. Bags and shoes will complete the offer – all of which offered at medium-high prices – such as €150 to €250 for a pair of jeans, up to €700 for most expensive apparel items. Bags will range between €300 and €500 and shoes between €180 and €300. “We want to be the casual alternative to luxury. We didn’t increase our prices, but worked on maintaining a very good-price-quality ratio, also because we want to generally start focusing our distribution less on mainstream stores and more on high-quality ones, everywhere in the world,” Riccardi stated. The new collection has a strong focus on denim (about 50%), after an overall readjustment of its fit offer. It also includes leather, jackets, tops, and fashion pieces.

Diesel expects significant results from this relaunch: “We expect our women’s line to reach about 45% of the brand's sales,” Riccardi continued. “In past years of crisis it was about 30-35%, and today we are more identified with our men’s offer.” The ‘Only The Brave’ holding registered sales for €1.3 billion in 2010, and Diesel’s turnover, according to estimates, could be about €1.1billion.

(For more detailed information read our profile story that will appear in issue #238, July-August 2011)